REPORT: Magna eyeing Saturn
Magna tried and lost when Chrysler was for sale. Pulling a Marchionne, Magna's now trying to win GM Europe's Opel division for itself, and rumor is that Saturn is also on the shopping list. GM would get much-needed capital for the transactions, but it could also be facing its old properties as new competition. Of course, coughing up the money might be difficult, considering Magna's taken a shellacking so far this year.
Some think keeping Opel and Saturn together makes sense, because they're already joined at the hip through current parent GM, and they're both slated for spin-off or sudden death. That may be fine for now, on the platforms the brands currently use, giving Magna time to figure out where the underpinnings come from for the next vehicle cycle. If Magna wants to go from supplier to automaker, there's more properties on the market with lots of potential than any time in our collective memory. Funny thing, potential -- Magna could either be wildly successful in winning Saturn and Opel, connecting with consumers, and generally rocking it where there had once been much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Or, it could all go down in a pire of torched Dollars, Loonies, and Euros. Thanks for the tips, Richard.
[Source: WSJ]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
The Other Bob 10:22AM (5/21/2009)
That would be a cool combo, plus it would be the beginning of a real Canadian auto company.
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Julius 9:45AM (5/21/2009)
It would be interesting to see if this would work. How it would work in this environment remains to be seen...
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James 10:18AM (5/21/2009)
Between Magna and Fiat vying over Opel...my vote goes to Magna.
Mirko 9:50AM (5/21/2009)
Well it could work - Opel is an engineering powerhouse, Magna too. If they wanted, they could make some really nice Saturns together. But would anybody buy them?
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tankd0g 9:57AM (5/21/2009)
Canadians might, so that's 1% of sales taken care of :)
Swede 9:53AM (5/21/2009)
So what, is this just the brand or are dealers and manufacturing plants included? What is Saturn exactly? I doubt even GM knows that to be honest.
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J.Crew 11:10AM (5/21/2009)
They would be buying Opel and keeping it in Europe as it is and exporting the cars to North America under the Saturn name as the latest cars were engineered to meet North American standards. Opel would essentially operate like BMW or Mercedes Benz except with two or three names, Opel/Vauxhal in Europe, and Saturn for North America.
Soccer Mom 9:55AM (5/21/2009)
It may potentially create a winning combination.
Of course some Magna's customers will be ticked off by the fact it now competes with them, while providing parts. That, however, can be easily solved by a transparent pricing structure that will be uniform across all customers.
At the same time, Magna can utilize it's technology and integrate vertically, becoming a highly efficient automaker. Selling cars under known brands - Saturn and Opel - and keeping the same concept that GM started (Staturn = re-badged Opel, which, in my opinion, is a good thing) may be very beneficial for Magna.
Now, with all the Russian thugs bankrupt and out of the way with their Lada ideas, Magna has a fair chance of success.
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BigWill 1:44PM (5/21/2009)
"That, however, can be easily solved by a transparent pricing structure that will be uniform across all customers."
Wrong. The issue isn't pricing, the issue is that you're sticking money into your competitor's pocket. If you think that a supplier competing with its customers is feasible, just ask Pepsi how well that worked out for them.
atl 11:53PM (5/25/2009)
The Russians are with Magna on this deal & Opel!
Perfext 10:12AM (5/21/2009)
Great, I hope it works. The Astra is the only car I like at GM. Yes, it could use the 2.2L or a diesel, and more rear leg room. but it drives really really well. Saturn has basically become Opel anyway. I hope the German government has some sway on GM on the sale of Opel. Fiat isn't the best partner IMO. Quality is my only concern with Magna. From what i have read, The M/S plant's Chrysler products in Europe are not as well put together as the ones from the USA. if that is at all possible...
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hypermiler 10:05AM (5/21/2009)
Magna would need more outlets to sell Opels after its acquisition(Magna is the top rated bidder according to reports), so this acquisition makes sense from Magna's perspective.
Well, at least German imported Opels are less-threatening than some Chinese imports that Penske's trying to bring in, right?
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TRL 10:12AM (5/21/2009)
Opel sells pretty well in most of western Europe and the pipe line is full of good stuff that should sell on any continent.. Get Penske to buy Saturn, which is a NA only distribution channel and supply him with vehicles and this could really embarrass GM. Sounds good to me.
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anoldbikeguy 10:13AM (5/21/2009)
"Some think keeping Opel and Saturn together makes sense, because they're already joined at the hip through current parent GM, and they're both slated for spin-off or sudden death."
According to whom? Stop making non-sensical statements like this - it really degrades the editorial integrity of Autoblog.
Saturn - yes, spun off or shut down.
Opel - only selling a portion and then by coercion. GM has no interest in selling or shutting down Opel - it has historically been a money making division and with the changes in their global engineering structure over the last several years an integral part of their vehicle development process. Selling a portion by mandate of the German government - as the government does not trust that all of any funds provided to sustain Opel would remain in Germany.
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hypermiler 10:23AM (5/21/2009)
This new owner would have the majority stake of Opel, so the new owner could cut off GM from access to Opel engineering if it desires to.
GM's contingency plan appears to be Daewoo which would cover the engineering hole left by Opel in GM's car line-up, but Korean government itself is thinking about taking back Daewoo from GM and selling it to a Korean capital under pressure from Daewoo suppliers. Then GM would really have no place left to engineer its cars.
anoldbikeguy 11:54AM (5/21/2009)
Sorry, that is nowhere near true - this is the scope of GM's global footprint for design and engineering:
• GM operates 11 design centers in nine countries on five continents.
• GM operates 12 engineering centers in 12 countries on six continents.
The way they have redeployed their product development globally:
U.S. - Luxury RWD, Compact Utility, Full-Size Truck
Europe - Midsize, Compact Car
Korea - Small Car, Minicar
Australia - Large Rear Wheel Cars
Specific core feature development has also been distributed globally, which significantly reduced engineering overhead.
GM also will likely retain the rights to the current platforms, architectures, etc. developed within GME (GM Europe), which is more than just Rüsselsheim, Germany - it also includes Trollhättan, Coventry and Millbrook.
cj 10:49AM (5/21/2009)
Magna already has capabilities to build cars and up until recently, they were building 300. Being a part supplier and automaker will mean higher margin for selling cars. I look forward to seeing Canadian Company with their own line of cars.
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BLS 10:51AM (5/21/2009)
Bring on the MILA EV.
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richard 10:54AM (5/21/2009)
I know you were joking, tankd0g, but Canada is around 10% of the North American market, and Canadians would jump at the chance to support a Canadian-owned automaker with proven products. Maybe the Sky could survive, and even the Opel version of the G8 could be revived. Many possibilities!
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BoxerFanatic 12:04PM (5/21/2009)
Hopefully they would get Kappa, and maybe do something with it.
Pontiac is going away. Saturn-Opel, and a re-badge for Daewoo are the only other brands using that, and the Sky's design is very good, regardless of the name Sky, Opel GT, or whatever Daewoo calls their rebadge in the far-east.
I dunno that they would get access to Holden/GM Zeta, like G8/Commodore which would still be in GM's catalog in various places.
Doesn't Magna also have a stake in the Artega GT? Maybe they could make a go, with the major automakers concentrating on their own problems, rather than focusing on limiting their competition... but Magna would be coming into a rough market right off the bat, which I am sure it knows, being a supplier already.